Despite her difficult start in life, Minnie has continued to thrive ever since Debby rescued her from Romania

My little dog is such a brave star and quite deservedly has a big fan club of schoolchildren. They can't wait to gather round and fuss her when I go to our village school to collect my five-year-old grandson.

She sits like a little angel and patiently enjoys all the stroking and oohs and aahs from the boys and girls. One mum was thrilled when her little girl stroked Minnie as she usually has a terrible fear of dogs, so well done to Minnie for being so lovely!

Minnie learned to be brave as a tiny puppy as she was born at the side of a motorway and one of her siblings was actually killed by the traffic. Fortunately, Minnie and her mum were saved and taken to a rescue shelter in Romania, which was safe but rather bleak and cold.

She was born at the side of a motorway

I had been considering a rescue dog for a while and I just knew this little pup was the one for me. Once again, Minnie had to be brave as she spent three days travelling in a small crate from Romania to the UK in January. It must have been gruelling despite the love and care from the marvellous volunteers at the charity.

Since her ordeal, Minnie has blossomed into the sweet, cuddly, gentle, funny and friendly little darling that she is now. She is so funny when she is on her sock-stealing missions. She thinks she’s so clever but she just looks hilarious as she dashes away on her tiny little Queen Anne legs with a pair of socks flapping in her mouth!

She has also started spinning round and round at 100 miles an hour, trying to catch her bushy squirrel tail! And yes, she is a funny shape – a bit of a hairy sausage with stumpy legs and the fluffiest curly tail. But she is a bundle of love and the best little friend anyone could ever want.

After Sam sadly lost his previous owner, Nicola made the decision to take him in and give him the best life possible

I met Sam the Sheltie when I was in care. His owner, a lady called Olive, had a terminal brain tumour. Sam was 12 then and Olive decided that she would give Sam to Dogs Trust for rehoming. When I heard this story, it broke my heart.

I promised I would give him the best life

Let me tell you a bit about the relationship between Olive and Sam. Olive never had children and always had dogs as her babies. Sam wouldn’t leave Olive’s side when she was ill. He knew something was wrong and he would always be at her feet. When Olive was unable to stand anymore and was confined to a bed, he would lay at the bottom of the bed with one paw touching her.

I just couldn’t bear Sam losing his mum, his everything, and then being locked in a cage, confused and scared. So, I made the decision to take Sam in and promised I would give him the best life. Here we are five years later, still loving a walk, and the other dogs always show us so much love.

Sully is the most loyal of dogs and likes to accompany Paul everywhere – he won’t even eat a biscuit without him!

Deep down Sully is a big softie at heart, very loyal to my wife and I. He gets nervous when out and likes to cuddle his teddy – in fact, he is so attached to it that he’s been known to carry it around with him on his walks!

He loves to go fishing with me

We do walk together a lot, but he loves to go fishing with me. He goes mad when I catch a fish, watching my line until I bring it in. He sits there for hours with me. We also go to watch my daughter play football, and he’ll sit on my lap while the game is going on.

If my wife gives him a biscuit in the morning before going out, he won’t eat it until he has shown it to me when I come home in the afternoon. All it takes for us is to say to him ‘where’s the cat?’ and he’ll go up the garden barking like mad, even though there is no cat!

After years of living as a stray in Cyprus, Zola has finally found her forever home with Annabel, and now she’s blossoming into the dog she was always meant to be

I adopted Zola, a German Shorthaired Pointer, on 2nd May this year. She was found as a stray in Cyprus, rescued and looked after in a shelter for about two months until she was well enough to travel to the UK.

She has settled really well in the time she has been here, and I have just started very basic training with her as she was completely untrained. She has definitely come out of her shy, anxious shell and is showing her cheeky, funny, very affectionate character. She is a puppy in a 9-year-old body as she's probably never enjoyed a puppyhood before.

Adopting a neglected, abandoned dog is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done

She loves anything fluffy, especially if she's not supposed to have it, like my slippers and the dog coats I’m knitting for rescue shelters, for example. She pokes her nose in any open drawer or cupboard and loves to grab and run – she is particularly drawn to silicone baking containers for some bizarre reason.

Zola is starting to bond with our other two adopted German Shorthaired Pointers, 9-year-old Baxter and 12-year-old Danny, who’s also a Cyprus rescue. She loves food, food and more food, playing with toys, stealing Danny's tennis balls and doing anything naughty.

She makes me laugh every day and drives me demented from running around saving items from being chewed, but gives me so much love in return. Adopting a neglected, abandoned dog and giving them a loving forever home is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done, and seeing them blossom into the dogs they should have always been is priceless.

Vivienne and Lacie share a close bond and an optimistic outlook on life

Lacie is our beautiful Blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She’s such a gentlesoul who brings my family and I so much joy. She was born with hip dysplasia and has undergone several knee operations to correct this. It can’t have been easy but she soldiers on, with her beautiful smile and waggy tail.

She’s my sunshine dog

As I suffer from an ankle disability, it feels like Lacie and I were meant to be. We both take life in our stride and at our own pace. She’s my sunshine dog, and everyone who meets her instantly falls in love. Lacie is truly one of a kind.

Pamela has hours of fun with her dog Jarvis, who is always rearing to go and ready to play.

Jarvis is such a character, he always makes me smile!

He likes a lot of cuddles and kisses, and thinks he's very funny when he leaps onto the sofa and then bounces and gives you a kiss on the nose, even though I end up spilling a lot of tea! He will not get up to get a biscuit, but expects them to be brought to him.

Gives you a kiss on the nose

When he was a puppy we use to play a game called ‘put the puppy in the box’ – I would sit on the floor with a box and Jarvis would run and bark at me. I would say ‘put the puppy in the box’ and he would run off but he would keep coming back barking – he loved it!

He likes to go for walks and is always popular with people we meet – and he knows it! He loves it when people stop to give him a cuddle. He is our first dachshund and he has been amazing.